KELLYLEE’S JOYFUL NOISE
Ottawa jazz singer Kellylee Evans has a new album out containing her take on Eminem.
Leave it to Kellylee Evans to give Eminem that swing. On her fifth album, the Juno-winning jazz vocalist, who makes her home west of Ottawa, not only offers an eloquent interpretation of Lose Yourself, the anguished hit by the bad-boy rapper, but also mashes two other Eminem tracks into one tight, punchy tune, My Name Is, that swaggers with baritone sax and sultry vocals.
I Remember When is the followup to Evans’ Juno-winning tribute to legendary singer Nina Simone. This time, the 38-year-old mom draws from a more contemporary well of influences; in addition to Eminem, the music is inspired by artists like Alicia Keys, A Tribe Called Quest and Kanye West.
“The goal was to go back and listen to the music that inspired us, from the music we listened to growing up to right now,” explained Evans during a visit to her home in the countryside, where she and husband Raul Li homeschool their three children.
“The first song I picked was Eminem’s Lose Yourself,” she says. “That’s what was so interesting about the project: I had to listen and think, ‘What can I connect to?’ Lose Yourself is so incredibly universal, the idea of giving yourself to your dream and just going for gold, and performing like it’s your last time.”
That’s always been Evans’ approach to music, although the concept for an urban/ jazz album originated with Sébastien Vidal, a programming director for a club and radio station in France.
He was struck by Evans’ beatbox-derived improv singing. Unbeknownst to Evans, Vidal suggested to his contacts at Universal Music that she should record an album of hiphop-soul-infused tracks. They loved the idea and offered a deal.
Evans was loading her gear into a venue in Montreal when she got the call. After working independently for years, she was thrilled at the opportunity.
“That was huge,” says the Scarborough native.
“I wasn’t expecting it. I’m really happy because there’s a whole other team of people with a different set of skills that I’ve never had. Things happen faster. We’re even talking about the idea of doing a video. I’ve never done a video before.”
The disc came out in Canada this week, but was released in France in February and is already well on its way to scoring a hat trick of radio hits. One French radio station plays Lose Yourself, another plays Ordinary People and another can’t get enough of And So We Dance, a song that Evans first discovered in her quest to her learn French.
Her version is an interpretation of Allons danser, a Top40 hit on the French charts, but with English lyrics that Evans wrote. The song carries the same infectious spirit that made it a hit, while the new lyrics make it accessible to even more people.
The new album was recorded with Eric Legnini, a Belgium-born jazz musician and recording artist who has a studio stocked with a vast collection of music, including plenty of contemporary soul and hiphop. Evans travelled to France a half dozen times last year, first to simply listen to music and pick out songs.
“We just fell in love with the whole project,” Evans says. “We’d just sit there and pull things out and listen without any stress and all of a sudden, jump on an idea. With Eric’s influences and mine and Seb’s, we were just cooks in the kitchen creating something.”
Between the major-label support and radio play, it’s shaping up to be a big year for Evans, loaded with potential for crossover success.
The singer has some highprofile dates his summer, including the Ottawa International Jazz Festival, where she’s on the bill with Willie Nelson.
Other plum opening slots will find her in front of John Legend and Joe Cocker at festivals in Europe.
As for her French, it’s coming along nicely.
“I can’t pretend I don’t understand anybody,” she says.
“My grammar is horrible but I make my way through.”